Why Remote Work Should Change Startup Culture

This is definitely something that happens. It's valid, I believe, for the company to vet candidates for culture fit, but the go should not be hiring a team of "sames."

In a recent batch of interviews (four opportunities local, three remote), I was put through a specific culture fit step of the interview process at all but one company, and it was part of all remote hiring processes.

I joined my startup 2 years ago on-site. After my wife and I had a baby it became very difficult to live in the bay area. Housing is obviously ridiculous there and I had to live an hour away from the office. I told my manager that we would be moving and I was interviewing for remote jobs. They ended up allowing me to work remotely, and I have been for almost two months now.

The whole transition has been much smoother than I could have ever imagined. My team relies on slack so I definitely feel just as connected to everyone. We do regular video calls on Google Hangouts, and even have a robot[1] that makes daily standup fun and convenient for everyone.

I feel like I am able to focus for longer periods of time being away from the office. There are no distractions to play ping pong and interruptions are fewer and farther between. I also have much more time since I'm not commuting ~2 hours a day. I have time to spend with my wife and 1-year-old and I have time to go to the gym. I feel much more well-rounded as a result and I feel like I'm a better father and husband, and a much better employee. Overall, I think my output has gone up and my productivity has increased, though I have no data to support it.

[1] http://www.doublerobotics.com/

As someone that also works remote, it's not all roses and daisies. Communication can be very hard at times without someone there to manage it, keep everyone in the loop, and make sure nobody is left out.

We go into the office once a week, and i've found that on those days, just being in the office lets me overhear conversations about things that I can offer a solution to, or having a few people in the same area shooting shit often leads to a conversation about work and about a problem someone is trying to solve and often a solution is offered.

The biggest concept is that it's hard to "split" conversations while working remote. Either everyone is involved in the conversation (via phone or video meeting), or it's one-on-one. Getting the organic "handful of people in a group, and one conversation kind of breaks off to talk about something, then re-joins the group where someone else needed to leave for a call" kind of thing just doesn't happen. And that's where I find the most benefit from being in an office.

I have been mostly working remote since 1998 because I live in the mountains in Central Arizona - 2.25 hours from the Phoenix Airport. I find this article wildly optimistic.

I literally give a 50% discount when I work remotely because I believe that in general I am about twice as valuable to my customers when I work on site.

I enjoy remote work, but I am honest with myself that physical presence when working with a team is more productive. That said, I save a lot of money working from home so my smaller consulting rate for remote work is viable.

Anyway, I enjoy my consulting business and don't plan on making any changes.

Culture-fit is the hardest part of any interview process for me. I'm an extreme introvert -- though I can fake being an outgoing, friendly person when necessary (but it's extremely taxing and I need to take a nap afterwards). Perhaps others pick up on the fakery -- or maybe it comes off as 'creepy.'